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A report in India Today magazine claims that India’s players are seeking assurances from the Indian board (BCCI) about their personal safety before agreeing to travel to Pakistan for March’s ground-breaking series.The article adds that several players believe that the BCCI has spent more time focusing on the financial windfall likely to accrue from the games than it has on the welfare of the team.”Is anyone in the BCCI going to do a recce before the tour and see what the arrangements are for the team?” the magazine quotes an unnamed player as saying. “We get a feeling they are happy to just have the tour and send us off. There seems to be more talk of television revenues rather than security which is disturbing.”Recent reports have indicated that the tour could generate huge sums of money, with the cash-strapped Pakistan Cricket Board alone set to earn around $30 million in broadcast and sponsorship rights.Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI president, dismissed the concerns, insisting that he had been in regular touch with the Pakistan board to discuss all aspects of the tour, including player security.

He might be winning, but New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming surely knows that his luck with pitches on offer in the National Bank Series must be getting close to running out.Luck was with New Zealand as it out-lasted the Indians to claim a three-wicket win in a pathetically low-scoring match at Eden Park today where 108 scored in 32.5 overs lost to 109/7 scored off 37.4 overs.Fleming said the pitch had been “very testing” and because of the negativity that was surrounding the pitches that negative factor was just as dangerous as the pitch itself.”It was two-paced, the ball would hold and there was balloon bounce,” he said.Fleming made the point that New Zealand had not been doctoring pitches as some reports had claimed. The conditions had not been asked for. What New Zealand wanted was pitches with more bounce.Fleming said he was surprised by the qualities the pitch showed.”I thought it would be a good wicket. It took me by surprise,” he said.Fleming said he hoped the wicket in Auckland was not an indication of what lay ahead for the remainder of the series because he was sure the batsmen in both sides wanted to be able to express themselves in their build-ups for the World Cup.As New Zealand’s wickets tumbled, they were 52/6 at one stage, he admitted to nervousness, but it was more for batsman Kyle Mills. He believed his players had the ability to do the job but was nervous for them in their execution.He praised the efforts of Jacob Oram while he added that the Indians were only one performance away from cutting loose and it was his hope that he could keep them down for as long as he could.Oram, who was named man of the match as much for his five-wicket bag while bowling as for batting effort in scoring 27 not out in 96 minutes of anxious batting, said he took a lot into his innings from his experience in seeing New Zealand to victory in the second Test in Hamilton.He said it had involved a little bit of grit that he hadn’t seen in himself in the past. It wasn’t really his game to work the ones and twos as circumstances have required him to do in these matches, but he admitted enjoying finding this new aspect to his game.Oram and Mills had merely said to each other all the way through that they would see each other again at the end of the over.

A Mumbai-based company has filed an appeal against a High Court orderrefusing to stay the decision of the Board to award a three-yearcontract for clothing sponsorship of Indian team in internationalmatches to International Management Group and Transworld Internationalcombine (IMG-TWI).The appeal was filed by proprietor of Gayatri Arts Sham Dhumatkaryesterday in the Mumbai High Court and is likely to be heard within aweek. Gayatri Arts had challenged BCCI’s decision to award contract toIMG-TWI by way of a petition in the High Court. The company claimedthat it had made the highest bid of Rs 90 crore through a legal tenderadvertised by BCCI in a newspaper. Yet, the contract was awarded toIMG-TWI combine.Justice D K Deshmukh, hearing the petition, had, in an ad-interimorder, refused to stay BCCI’s decision. Gayatri Arts filed an appealcontending that the Judge had failed to take cognizance of the bidmade by it which was higher than the one put up by IMG-TWI. Hence theaward of contract to IMG-TWI was bad in law, improper and unjustified.Gayatri Arts submitted that BCCI had confirmed the contract in aletter on May 3 and gave 48 hours notice to accept the offer.Accordingly, Gayatri Arts accepted the contract offer in a letter toBCCI, the court was told.On May 22, however, BCCI’s marketing committee held a second meetingin New Delhi where the contract awarded to Gayatri Arts was resiledand instead awarded to IMG-TWI after an open bidding and revelation ofprices.Gayatri Arts claimed that the contract was complete after BCCI wrote aletter to them making the offer of contract and the company acceptingit in writing. BCCI, on the other hand, claimed that its communicationto Gayatri Arts was not a confirmation letter of contract but a mere’query’.

Albie Morkel has played for his country, played for his franchise, played for three IPL teams, three counties, and a CPL team. He has played a Test, played more than 100 limited-overs internationals and over 500 representative matches. Until 22 games ago, he had played more T20s than any other player, a title which now belongs to Kieron Pollard, but that does not take away from Morkel’s myriad achievements.”He has done everything in the game, except lead,” Mark Charlton, the coach of provincial side Northerns, told ESPNcricinfo. But this Saturday, that will change.Morkel will captain Northerns in the Africa Cup, the new T20 tournament being played by South Africa’s provincial team as well as invited teams from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya, as a precursor to taking over the leadership of the Titans franchise in limited-overs formats. Morkel’s accepting of the armband is an admission of what most already knew: his international career is probably over and he is looking at other ways to play a part. Mentorship has emerged as one of them.”He is a very calm, assured, respected player and he is a guy everybody can take something from,” Charlton said. “He has already been spending a lot of time with the young bowlers and guys are seeing that they can lean on his experience. We’re hoping he’ll have the same kind of effect Jacques Rudolph had at the Titans.”In the last two seasons, Rudolph had provided stability to a Titans’ team in transition. He provided experience both in batting terms and behind the scenes as the squad went through retirements of some of their senior-most men like Martin van Jaarsveld and Paul Harris besides change in coaches. Rudolph has decided to finish his career in England and it is hoped that Morkel will take over from where he left off.Titans, the franchise team which both Northerns and Easterns feed into, are still experimenting with a mix of players as they filter through a talented younger pool. Twenty-two year-old-opening batsman Theunis de Bruyn is one of them, while last year’s Under-19 World Cup winners Corbin Bosch and Aiden Markram are two others. All three of those players will turn out for Northerns in the Africa Cup and Charlton hopes they will blossom under Morkel, with Markram in particular identified as someone who can feed off Morkel.”Aiden is someone we have earmarked as a potential future leader, although we haven’t quite decided in what capacity,” Charlton said. Markram, who captained the national Under-19 side to World Cup glory last year, could end up as part of the leadership group of provincial team, for example.Markram was awarded a semi-professional, provincial contact for the 2015-16 season after solid performances for Northerns last season. He played 10 first-class matches, scoring 424 runs at 30.28, including three fifties. He has not yet pushed on to franchise cricket but Charlton thinks that could change soon.”He has been steadily going about his work and learning his game,” Charlton said. “Quietly, he has been building his career and I think big things could come for him. He has a good base and a competition like this, the Africa Cup, is a chance for a player like Aiden to show he can compete with franchise players and to learn from them with guys like Albie also involved.”

Kent’s captain, Robert Key, has had his prospects of an England recall enhanced after being named by the England & Wales Cricket Board in a 26-man Performance Squad for the 2008 international summer.Key played the last of his 15 Tests against South Africa at Centurion in January 2005, but has been pressing his claims for a recall ever since being named as Kent’s captain in 2006. He began this season with a hard-fought 79 against Nottinghamshire at Canterbury, and would make a sound replacement should England’s middle-order continue to underperform in the coming Test series against New Zealand and South Africa.The bulk of the Performance Squad is made up of familiar names, although three uncapped players have made the cut. Hampshire’s opening batsman, Michael Carberry; Yorkshire’s legspinning allrounder Adil Rashid and the Kent offspinner James Tredwell are also included.England’s national selector, Geoff Miller, said that there was scope for four more players to be added to the squad in the course of the summer. “The England Performance Squad is designed to allow Peter Moores to closely monitor the development of international players,” he said, “and better prepare them for the demands of the international game.”The selectors can name up to 30 players in the EPS, but we have decided to keep four places vacant at present in order to give ourselves greater flexibility and we will reserve the right to add further players to the squad if their performances in domestic cricket merit it.Twelve of the 26 players in the squad are currently on 12-month ECB contracts, including Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, who were dropped from the Test side during last month’s tour of New Zealand, but the selectors decided against awarding any six-month contracts – not even to Stuart Broad and Tim Ambrose, the two young players who impressed the most in the Test series.”We were delighted with the progress made by several of our younger players during the winter. both with the full England side and the England Lions,” said Miller. “The awarding of contracts is based on our assessment of a player’s performance in international cricket over a period of time and we can, of course, opt to award contracts on a pro-rata basis during the middle of the domestic international season if appropriate.”England Performance Squad 2008 Tim Ambrose (Warwickshire), James Anderson (Lancashire) *, Ian Bell (Warwickshire) *, Ravi Bopara (Essex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham)*, Alastair Cook (Essex)*, Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) *, Stephen Harmison (Durham)*, Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire)*, Robert Key (Kent), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Philip Mustard (Durham), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire)*, Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)*, Matthew Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire),Owais Shah (Middlesex), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)*, Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire)*, Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire)*, Luke Wright (Sussex)* denotes centrally contracted player

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, expressed understandable frustration on return from a short tour to Scotland which saw his side play no matches and put in no outdoor practice either.Pakistan were scheduled to play two ODIs, against Scotland and India in Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively, but both were washed out without a ball being bowled as the UK experienced one of its wettest recent summers.”In Pakistan, a match against India is above everything else and the players were also looking forward to it although it was for a charitable cause. If we had performed well, itwould have been good for our morale and boosted the confidence of the people in us,” Malik told reporters on the team’s return.”It was very frustrating but there was nothing we could do. I was very keen for the match against India because Shoaib Akhtar was making a comeback after a while and was fired up for the game,” Malik said.Abdul Razzaq also expressed disappointment at missing out on the match against India. “The rain ruined everything. We were all looking forward to playing India. But now we must just look ahead and start preparing for other things.”These things happen and one can’t do anything about it. But playing India at such neutral venues is not a bad idea,” Razzaq said.Pakistan will now resume training at camps in Quetta and Karachi before playing in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September. “We have around two months without any international cricket and it is an ideal time for us to train hard and work on our fitness and also get acclimatised with our new coachwhoever he is,” Malik said.”After the Twenty20 World Championship, we face three very tough series against South Africa, India and Australia and we must start preparing for them seriously. For me as a captain it is a big challenge leading the side in such big series,” he said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Playing what will probably be his penultimate one-day game at his home ground of Queen’s Park Oval, Brian Lara produced a glorious matchwinning 69 as West Indies romped home to a six-wicket win to seal the series with an unbeatable 3-1 lead. Set a target of 218 after the Indian batting misfired again, West Indies stuttered briefly when they lost Chris Gayle, but Lara found a willing ally in fellow Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo, who remained unbeaten on 61, and their 91-run stand shut out all hopes for India.On a pitch which tested a batsman’s run-scoring abilities – the pace and bounce was variable, and the spinners got significant turn – the Indians were again found wanting after being put in to bat. The West Indies fast bowlers – led by Fidel Edwards, who added impeccable control to his usual pacy offerings – shackled the Indian top order early in the piece. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif subsequently injected some momentum with half-centuries, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni produced some fireworks at the end, but India were restricted to a total far below what they would have liked.The run-chase was to a large extent about Lara’s magic, but the initial dent to the Indians’ psyche came from Gayle’s terrific blitz at the start. Two strokes were especially memorable – a one-handed hoick over midwicket for six off Sreesanth, and an apparently hurried defensive prod off Pathan that still had enough momentum to race to the long-off fence.Gayle slowed down noticeably after his frenetic start – his last 16 runs took him 40 deliveries – but by then the Lara show had begun. Hesitant at the outset, especially against Ajit Agarkar – again India’s standout bowler – Lara gradually found his rhythm, pacing his knock quite superbly. The first few runs came mostly off singles, but as the confidence returned so did his breathtaking footwork against the spinners, which was easily the highlight of his innings.Ramesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh would have fancied their chances on this pitch, but Lara won that battle, and quite convincingly. His tussle against Powar was especially engrossing – Powar repeatedly tried to beat Lara in flight, and each time Lara rose to the challenge, padding it away when he wasn’t to the pitch, but willing to take a few chances as well. A sashay down the pitch for a flick past mid-on off Powar brought up the fifty partnership, before he turned his attention to Harbhajan, in his last over. Twice, Lara shimmied down the wicket and hoisted him over midwicket for fours, and then followed it with a glorious lofted stroke – high backlift and complete follow-through – high over long-on for six.At the other end, Bravo, promoted to No.5 ahead of Wavell Hinds, proved to be an ideal foil, batting sensibly when Lara was blazing away, but then taking the initiative himself after the master left. He brought up his fifty by spanking a straight six off Powar, and his all-round display – he had taken three wickets with his usual clever mix of slower balls earlier in the day – won him the Man-of-the-Match award.If West Indies’ batting was authoritative, their performance in the field was equally without blemish. Fidel Edwards ended up with only one wicket, but could easily have had a few more, and his economy rate of 2.37 suggests just how much he made the Indians struggle. Dravid, especially, was all at sea against the late swing that Edwards obtained. Ian Bradshaw kept up his excellent form in the series with two early strikes as Virender Sehwag couldn’t repeat his St Kitts act and Suresh Raina failed for the second time at No.3. When Dravid was finally put out of his misery by Corey Collymore, India were struggling at 47 for 3 in the 16th.

Yuvraj and Kaif then got together for the brightest phase of the Indian innings. From the outset, they looked to break the shackles, placing the ball in the gaps, running hard between the wickets, and putting the loose balls to the boundary. Their 80-run stand came in 16.2 overs, with Yuvraj – back in the side after missing the previous match due to injury – continuing the form, and the drives down the ground, which had almost taken India home in the second match. Kaif, meanwhile, produced his most fluent innings of the series. The runs under his belt showed as he timed the ball well from the start, getting off the mark with a spanking cover-drive, and then found the gaps far more consistently than he had in the previous matches.Once the stand was broken, though – and it took a magnificent delivery from Edwards to do it – West Indies tightened the screw again. Dhoni, struggling for confidence and runs in this series, was denied for long periods by deliveries fired in at the blockhole – there was a passage of play, between the 39th and 45th over, when Dhoni could only manage eight runs in 21 balls. With the overs fast running out, Dhoni finally got his act together, belted a few boundaries in characteristic style, but with Lara and Co. in such sparkling form, a target of 218 was hardly adequate.

IndiaVirender Sehwag c Gayle b Bradshaw 11 (13 for 1)
Suresh Raina c Sarwan b Bradshaw 7 (28 for 2)
Rahul Dravid c Sarwan b Collymore 15 (47 for 3)
Yuvraj Singh c Baugh b Edwards 52 (127 for 4)
Mohammad Kaif b Bravo 63 (188 for 5)
Irfan Pathan c Collymore b Bravo 8 (206 for 6)
Ajit Agarkar b Bravo 0 (206 for 7)
West IndiesMarlon Samuels lbw b Pathan 9 (28 for 1)
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Sehwag b Agarkar 6 (49 for 2)
Chris Gayle c Agarkar b Powar 46 (91 for 3)
Brian Lara c Raina b Powar 69 (182 for 4)

It was always destined to be a day of Aussie runs – why else would the start of play have been delayed by the appearance of a green-and-gold banner behind the bowler’s arm, bearing the urgent request: “Mum, send Imodium!”? But the warning came too late for Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist. Their rollicking 167-run partnership came at such a rate this morning that there was never any prospect of reaching the dunny in time.Runs, and lots of them, are what Indian crowds appreciate the most. But when Australia resumed at 5 for 316 this morning, the stands began to swell with the optimistic assumption that Australia had had their fill – or most of it, at any rate. So it was with some simmering disappointment that they were made to wait until the stroke of lunch for their first breakthrough.Even the scoreboard operator seemed to be feeling the strain, as he acknowledged Gilchrist’s half-century by flashing up the message: “Congratulations, Haidee Tiffen – 50 not out”. Tiffen, for the record, is a New Zealand women’s allrounder, who made 56 on her last (and first) appearance at Bangalore in December 2003. Who knows which of the city’s copious databases they dredged that particular graphic from.It was all getting too much for the besieged national TV network as well. They were awarded the rights to this series as a last-ditch measure, following the breakdown in communications between the BCCI and its primary suitors, and thecobbled-togetherness of it all meant that there were bound to be a couple of wobbles along the way.The former England captain Mike Atherton, primarily out here as a newspaper correspondent, was press-ganged into service as a commentator, while the producer only arrived midway through the first day, after being airlifted from a family holiday in Turkey. The upshot was that India’s armchair fans spent much of the morning watching a re-run of Kenya’s 1996 World Cup victory over West Indies, among other such gems. Mind you, after being subjected to the vacuous soap-star-turned-anchorwoman, Mandira Bedi, during Sony’s coverage of the Champions Trophy, the Indian public are well used to such irrelevances.What they missed during that hiatus was the continuation of an innings of utter serenity from Clarke. His personal fan club, those Imodium-seekers above the sightscreen, had been so convinced that he would reach three figures that they had come armed with a second banner reading “On ya Clarkey, 100 on debut”. It required a bit of black tape and a hasty scramble for the scissors, however, to adjust the banner in time for his 150.Clarke’s eventual demise geed the home support up no end, as they suddenly awoke to the prospect of witnessing their own batsmen in action. The Mexican Wave, more commonly associated with boredom and frustration, now carried the resonance of an expectant volcano, as an urgent drum-beat echoed across from the bleachers at midwicket.Not for the first time in the day, however, it was the travelling band of 200 or so Aussies who had all the more to crow about. A pair of exceptional deliveries from Glenn McGrath, including the ball of the match to dislodge Rahul Dravid, and those little splodges of yellow began to vibrate in adulation once again. But the counter-roar was massive and defiant, as the home support responded with ecstasy to every push for two into the covers.Special mention, however, must go to the lone Indian voice that rang out above all others, all throughout the day, as he sung merrily to himself in a disturbing falsetto, utterly oblivious to the concerned looks from his neighbours (not to mention the men in white coats hovering at the entrance to the stand). Among his favourite numbers were “Kaspa has only got one ball”, “MrLaxman, do it for me”, and “Knick-knack paddy-whack, these Aus-sies are going home.”With such a devoted support behind them, and an even bigger crowd expected as the weekend approaches, there can be no giving up of the ghost just yet. Not when there’s a follow-on looming and a Mr Laxman in the side, at any rate.Andrew Miller is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

Hyderabad 177 and 309 (Manohar 57, Khaleel 72*) beat Karnataka 100 (Narender Pal 6-31) and 89 (Faiz 6-29) by 297 runs
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Karnataka’s batting misery continued as they collapsed in a heap for the second time in the match allowing Hyderabad, the hosts, to romp home by 297 runs. Chasing 387 for victory, Karnataka were blown away by Faiz Ahmed, the left-arm medium-pacer, who had magical figures of 6 for 29. Earlier Ibrahim Khaleel, the wicketkeeper, hit a plucky half-century to help set Karnataka a daunting target.Railways 208 and 137 beatUttar Pradesh 71 (Parida 5-18) and 122 (Parida 5-47) by 152 runs
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Kulamani Parida’s offspin proved too hot for UP as Railways recorded a crushing victory at Varanasi. At 100 for 4, chasing 275, UP seemed on course for their first victory of the season, but Parida’s magic resulted in the last six batsmen tumbling for only 22. Earlier Jai Prakash Yadav (37) and Shreyas Khandolkar (30) had put Railways in the driving seat.Andhra162 for 3 (MSK Prasad 68*) trail Mumbai504 for 6 dec by 342 runs
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Andhra made slow progress on the third day at Vijayawada, with MSK Prasad, the former Indian wicketkeeper, anchoring the innings. Prasad has spent close to seven hours in the middle, consumed 262 balls, and exhibited the utmost restraint. He received good support from Amit Pathak, who hit a steady 40, as they put on 87 for the second wicket.Delhi 310 and 72 for 0 trail Punjab385 (Yuvraj 138) by 3 runs
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Delhi fought back through Narender Negi and Sanjay Gill on the third day at Chandigarh. Punjab failed to capitalise on the great platform built by Yuvraj Singh and Pankaj Dharmani, as their last eight batsmen fell for only 161 runs. Gill and Negi, the two Delhi medium-pacers, finished with four wickets apiece, and after dominating proceedings yesterday, Punjab finished up with a slender lead of 75. Rajat Bhatia and Salil Oberoi were undefeated at stumps, hauling Delhi close to parity with their 72-run opening stand.Bengal 246 and 111 for 3 lead Assam 347 (Sukhvinder 115*) by 10 runs
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Assam added another 59 in the morning session, to gain a lead of 101 over Bengal at Kolkata. This was largely down to Sukhvinder Singh, whose fine hundred included 19 fours. Bengal battled hard to erase the deficit, and ended the day 10 runs in front, although they have lost three wickets. AP Chakroborty top-scored with 44.Gujarat 273 for 6 (Christian 112, Parmar 82) trail Tamil Nadu 372 (Sharath 155, Vidyut 50) by 99 runs
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Akash Christian’s valuable hundred and Mukund Parmar’s patient half-century helped Gujarat claw their way back into the match against Tamil Nadu at Ahmedabad. Christian, unbeaten on 50 overnight, hit 17 fours in his 277-ball innings, and continued a rich vein of form this season. R Ramkumar was the most successful bowler for Tamil Nadu, finishing with 4 for 54.Kerala 231 and 95 for 1 (Somasundar 57*) trail Baroda 411 (RA Parab 104, Patel 67) by 85 runs
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Baroda’s strong batting display put Kerala on the back foot on the third day of their match at Vadodara. There were some very useful partnerships in the Baroda middle order, then Rakesh Patel’s 67 was a valuable bonus at the end. He hit seven fours and a six, and was the last man out as Baroda finished with a comfortable 411. Kerala fought back in the last session with Sujit Somasundar, the former Indian opener, compiling a good half-century.Plate Championship Second RoundOrissa 204 and 14 for 0 trail Maharashtra 77 and 439 for 8 dec (Jhadav 200, Aphale 100) by 299 runs
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Maharashtra made up for their batting debacle on the first morning by amassing 439 on the third day at Cuttack. Dheeraj Jhadav smashed 200 and Kaushik Aphale a round hundred to set Orissa a target of 313 in their final innings. Jhadav’s monumental effort spanned ten-and-a-half hours, during which he carted 17 fours and a six. Aphale, who faced 242 balls and hit nine fours himself, helped Jhadav add 204 for the fourth wicket.Tripura 216 for 3 (Roy 105*, Dhand 55) trail Haryana 461 for 6 dec (Ganda 95, Rawat 68) by 245 runs
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T Roy led the Tripura riposte after they had chased leather on the first two days at Rohtak. Sohale Dhand complemented Roy’s fine unbeaten century, and they put on 127 for the fourth wicket. Tripura are still 245 in arrears and will need another good batting performance tomorrow.Vidharbha 387 and 29 for 0 lead Madhya Pradesh 327 (Ojha 79, Bundela 85) by 89 runs
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Madhusudhan Acharya’s 4 for 84 played a vital role in gaining Vidharbha a 60-run lead on the third day of the Plate A match at Indore. Devendra Bundela compiled a dour 85 for MP, but that was not enough to overhaul Vidharba’s total. Nikhil Ojha’s 79 and Syed Abbas Ali’s 44 were the other highlights of the MP innings.Goa 142 and 16 for 0 trail Services 212 and 179 (Reddy 55, Jakati 6-42) by 234 runs
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Shadab Jakati, the left-arm spinner, gave Goa the upper hand by bowling out Services for 179 at Panjim. Madhusudhan Reddy hit a sedate 55, and his 94-run with Jasvir Singh (44) for Services’ second wicket raised hopes of a big total. Goa will have to chase down a target of 250 on the final day, in a match where the momentum has swung with regularity.Jammu & Kashmir 115 and 217 for 5 (Gupta 51*, Vijay Sharma 61*) beat Bihar 159 and 172 (Dhoni 64) by 5 wickets
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Ashwani Gupta and Vijay Sharma put on an unbroken stand of 83 as J&K cruised home by five wickets at Jammu. Sharma turned on the heat as he blasted 61 runs in 65 balls, with nine fours and a six. Shahid Khan – the first-innings hero – was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 42, but he couldn’t prevent J&K’s first win of the season.

Injury has ruled Jacques Kallis out of Friday’s Supersport Series match between WP and EP at Newlands. He has been replaced by Renier Munnik

NASHUA WESTERN PROVINCE V EASTERN PROVINCESUPERSPORT SERIESNewlands Cricket Ground15,16,17,18 February 2002Nashua Western Province Squad:1)Herschelle Gibbs2)Gary Kirsten3)Renier Munnik4)H.D. Ackerman ( C )5)Andrew Puttick6)Jonathan Trott7)Jean –  Paul Duminy8)Alan Dawson9)Paul Adams10)Paul Harris11)Charl Willoughby12)Th man  Jonathan McLean